I know you are feeling good about today, but I encourage you to read this and allow yourself to feel even better!
Conservatives and Republicans today suffered their most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s.
It’s hard to exaggerate the magnitude of the disaster. Conservatives may cheer themselves that they’ll compensate for today’s expected vote with a big win in the November 2010 elections. But:
(1) It’s a good bet that conservatives are over-optimistic about November – by then the economy will have improved and the immediate goodies in the healthcare bill will be reaching key voting blocs.
(2) So what? Legislative majorities come and go. This healthcare bill is forever. A win in November is very poor compensation for this debacle now.
So far, I think a lot of conservatives will agree with me. Now comes the hard lesson:
A huge part of the blame for today’s disaster attaches to conservatives and Republicans ourselves.
At the beginning of this process we made a strategic decision: unlike, say, Democrats in 2001 when President Bush proposed his first tax cut, we would make no deal with the administration. No negotiations, no compromise, nothing. We were going for all the marbles. This would be Obama’s Waterloo – just as healthcare was Clinton’s in 1994.
Only, the hardliners overlooked a few key facts: Obama was elected with 53% of the vote, not Clinton’s 42%. The liberal block within the Democratic congressional caucus is bigger and stronger than it was in 1993-94. And of course the Democrats also remember their history, and also remember the consequences of their 1994 failure.
This time, when we went for all the marbles, we ended with none.
(You can read the rest of Frum's article here)
I have made this point over and over again on this blog. The reason the Republicans fought so hard, and played so dirty, is because they knew that passing this bill would be extremely helpful to the Democrats in the long run.
When they saw it getting closer and closer to passing the Republicans and the Teabaggers, became more and more horrified that after this was passed, without their support, they would be marginalized or even cease to exist.
I don't how long it will take before liberals start to see the political benefits, but I know they are coming. And so do the conservatives, and that is making them absolutely SICK.
Good thing there is a bill being passed right now to help them with that.
Update: Here is Frum talking to David Shuster about this very topic.
Gryphen .. so happy you posted this .. I just put a link on the comments of the preceding story ! His is a remarkable analysis .. bet he doesn't make it to Faux news anytime soon !
ReplyDeleteI suggest that ALL of the Repubs commit suicide tonight. They've lied, misinformed, insulted, and being the sick bastards that they are, trashed everyone that spoke the truth about healthcare needing to be reformed. You Republicans should be ashamed of yourselves. Do yourself in, it's the right thing to do.
ReplyDeleteThe pee'ers are absolutely melting down. They flip from 'not even sarah can help us now', to 'get your guns together, this means war'. They seem extremely desperate and scary. A couple of them are trying to calm people, but others are rallying them into a frenzy.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your last commenter. The Republcians are a dying breed of scum. Let them all rot in hell for all that they've done!
ReplyDeleteI read this article earlier and wonder how Republicans will take it. I assume with anger. Boehner is now threatening to read the whole bill on the floor. They are flailing like crazy. It's amazing to watch but I'm tired because I got up so early to watch this day play out minute by minute!
ReplyDeleteI love the photo of Nancy, John Lewis and the Dems walking across the lawn, arms locked and carrying the Medicare gavel to start the votes.
ReplyDeleteEverything Frum said is true. Republican leaders let the extreme wingnuts take hold of their party because they wanted to get reelected more than help Americans. Now I shall do my damnedest to make sure none of them get another bite at the apple.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who might have had sense got their balls cut off by the screamers. The sane end of the GOP (obviously there are a scattered few left) should blame Boehner,Cantor and McConnell--to say nothing of the idiot Steele. All they had to do was join hands and dismiss Limbaugh. Cowards--all.
Though I am a life long Democrat I had no hate for
Republicans,--there was no need. In the end I believed we all wanted the same thing. A prosperous nation that took care of the most needy
and who were together in our ups and downs.
But it seems that a black man as POTUS unhinged racist angry people and the GOP leaders stood around and cheered. Grand Old Party my ass. They are what we see. Scared, inept troglodytes fearing the light.
Good luck to them all--but we'll all need it as they have whipped up hate that hasn't been seen in this country in decades.
TEE-HEE.........
ReplyDeleteI wanted to share this video. I found it last night. With the healthcare bill soon to pass, it seems so appropriate.
ReplyDeleteObama--The Change the World Needed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3xx5H4QlAE
Frum is actually a bright conservative. He knows that because they listened to the Palins and Becks of their world, they are relegated to the wilderness for years.
ReplyDeleteHCR is good for America, not the GOP.
It is indeed refreshing to finally hear someone call these right-wing radicals what they are - radicals.
ReplyDelete---------------
The Orange Boner had to take his troops into a meeting earlier and admonish them to act like adults when the bill passes - not to remember that they are adults, but to act like adults. Good luck with your man-/woman-childs on that one, Boner. Maybe James Dobson would agree to come over and beat them for you if they act out.
---------------
Put this one in the "Makin' Rove Proud" category (b/c attacking when least expected w/ the opposite of truth works): Sort of lost b/c of the focus on the HIR vote today - in response to the intensely negative attention on the Catholic church due to their being/sheltering child-molesting perverts, the Pope apologized and then, bein' a dick, assailed secularism as "the real problem," echoing the recent attacks on secularism by Bush-43's favorite lapdancer, Tony Blair. Both are no doubt anticipating that American right-wing Xtians will seize the opportunity and follow their lead. Be prepared for the coming onslaught. As desperate as the Republicans are, that may even be their upcoming campaign rhetoric as they promise to repeal teh Pagan Soshulizmz.
216 at 10:45pm--congratulations to all!!
ReplyDeleteBut what is going to change for the baggers? Nothing good kicks in right away and IF ONLY this was a gov takeover! It is far from it, too far for me!
ReplyDeleteI'm with Angela.
ReplyDeleteThe Republicans could have made a difference in offering substantive, contributive argument - but they didn't, allowing their right wing Conservative brethern to carry the water for them, while they threw up their hands, or hid behind their skirts, courting votes that meant nothing.
And this all at time when Palin, Limbaugh, Beck, et al were screaming from the rafters making an undeniable dent in the power structure to the uninformed. (As unwarranted and un-factual as it was. . .they were an unfortunate, and effective, force for a while.)
Heck, I could have made a capitalist based, good old Republican argument to IMPROVE or DIRECT health care reform. . .and I am just one person. But they didn't. Not during the Obama administration nor during the Bush years. They sat on their hands while business and individuals got creamed by the hegemony of the health insurance industry.
I have no sympathy for Republicans tonight because they did SQUAT against the Right Wing Nuts of their own party, standing silent instead of offering up alternative, possibly improved, contributions to health care reform.
They're dumb. They could have done better. They had the power, not even now, but earlier. They are dumber than Palin, who took them for a cheap ride on her Pumpkin "Death Panel" Chariot.
Well now the clock has rung midnight.
Mouse footmen, that's what that is.
MicMac
I just looked at sea of pee Mansour's tweets--she had some tasty tweets to Obama and to the Whitehouse. Palin employs some strange people.
ReplyDeleteJust found this on Twitter:
ReplyDeletehttp://twitter.com/PalinTV
One segment has Palin rambling on about healthcare on O'Reilly. Looks like she is gearing up for her Alaska documentary, decked out in a sweatsuit; her sporty look replacing the trashy granny-look of yesterday, and touting that Alaska is clean, pristine and healthy.
The Republicans could have been part of the solution instead of obstructionists. I'm sure the President and Dems would have made concessions if they had worked to get this passed.
ReplyDeleteThey have no one to blame but the men and women in the mirror.
Rick
I find it interesting that Frum posted this before the vote. It seems easy to read between the lines of his post: this defeat is entirely the responsibility of the GOP leadership, i.e., McConnell, Lott, Boehner, Cantor, Pence, and silver tongued Michael Steele. If Frum is saying this in print, you can bet that there are GOPers saying it it more forceful terms behind the scenes.
ReplyDeleteWill any of these authors of the GOP’s “most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s” pay with their positions? Will the voices of reason within the GOP - yeah, I know it sounds ludicrous - come to their senses and retake their party? It’s clear that everyone of those leaders valued crushing Obama above all else.
If there is change, will they tack even harder to the right? If they do, I predict it will be the end of the GOP. Not only have these tactics backfired politically, it has sickened and repulsed most Americans. The GOP has come to symbolize all that is worst about our system of governance. If they move further to the right they will literally become the TOP, the Teabagger Only Party. They will never again be a party capable of contesting national elections.
What I consider the lengthy money quote from Frum:
“We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat.
There were leaders who knew better, who would have liked to deal. But they were trapped. Conservative talkers on Fox and talk radio had whipped the Republican voting base into such a frenzy that deal-making was rendered impossible. How do you negotiate with somebody who wants to murder your grandmother? Or – more exactly – with somebody whom your voters have been persuaded to believe wants to murder their grandmother?’”
Could this mean that we have already witnessed the high water mark of FauxNews? Will Frum’s “leaders who knew better, who would have liked to deal” have the courage to stand up to the teabaggers and the FauxNews fascists? What will this do for Beck and Palin? They certainly haven’t been very effective in persuading their fellow citizens. Fellow goobers, yes, but everybody else finds their message of exclusion and intolerance repugnant and unAmerican.
The GOP seems to be at a fork in the road. Will they follow Yogi Berra’s advice and take it? As much as I have enjoyed seeing the GOP engage in this circular firing squad, at some point, being deprived of a loyal party of opposition is not beneficial for anyone. I don’t necessarily want the GOP to cease to exist, but I do want them to purge themselves of the bigoted homophobes, racists, and batshit crazy loons that currently exemplify their leadership and the base of their party. If the GOP can come to their senses and actually work WITH President Obama, I’ll listen to what they have to say. Until then, I shall refrain from running for the garden hose while they self immolate.
Hey GOP? How’s that fear and loathing thing workin’ out for ya’?
Great post, Gasman. Frum wrote an insightful gem of wisdom. I agree completely.
ReplyDeleteAmy, you may have guessed correctly Palin is dressing for her next job as a sporty AK guide. It's been freaking weird seeing Palin wearing extreme looks and that bad wig the past week. I'd like to see a picture of Speaker Pelosi in her lavandar suit beside stringy hair nylon jacket Palin and "going rug' Palin!
RAM better start doing a more thorough job on her Palin facebook/twitter homework or else she'll soon be under the bus with Meg.
ReplyDeletePalin failin' at its best.